[civilwarwest] Champion's Hill

The other day, the discussion turned to the most important battles and possibly which battle might have been the turning point of the war and the battle of

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, Feb 6, 2000

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The other day, the discussion turned to the most important battles and
possibly which battle might have been the turning point of the war and the
battle of Champion's Hill was put into nomination. Well, since I was already
looking into that battle I decided to dig a little deeper. The more I dug the
more interesting it became and since I already had the information anyway, I
decided to make a page for it on the website.

I think you will find this is the most complete area on the Internet for
learning about this battle. Since I am just getting into the Western
Theater, I knew of Champion's Hill as part of the Vicksburg Campaign but
had no idea just how important this battle was. I don't believe this battle,
even given it's importance, was the turning point of the war. However,
having said that, it certainly contributed to the event that I think was
the turning point. That being the surrender of Vicksburg.

Additionally, as I peel the layers back on this battle, I am finding a
lot of commonality between Champion's Hill and Antietam. For instance, (1) both
had a good commander on one side and a poor commander on the other. In the case
of Antietam, it was the South that had the good, Lee, and the North that had the
bad, McClellan. At Champion's Hill, it was the South that had the bad,
Pemberton, and the North that had the Good, Grant. (2) The interception of
an opposing side's communication played a part in both battles. At
Antietam, it was the finding by Union troops Lee's S.O. 191. At Champion's Hill
it was a Union spy that handed Johnston's communication to Pemberton over
to Grant. (3) In both battles, the Southern army came close to being
captured or annihilated. At Antietam, Lee managed to get his army out intact
primarily because McClellan misjudged the size of the force he was facing and
was waiting for un-needed reinforcements before resuming battle. At Champion's
it sees that Pemberton was just lucky more than skillful that he managed to
escape. Of course, as always, these are just my opinion(s).

Now on another subject. There have been several "blank" posts sent to
the group last night and this morning. When this happens, it appears that the
individual(s) are trying to "unsubscribe." Just a guess on my part. In the
event, that you do not fully understand the procedures for "unsubscribing" just
send me a private email stating that you want to "unsubscribe" and I will be
glad to do it for you. I know that many join a group like this just for a
short time to gain some needed knowledge and have no intention of staying for a
long period of time because of the volume of mail that it can generate. I fully
respect that.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the addition to the website and I think it will
answer a lot of questions for you.